By Dan Rafael
ESPN.com
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From the moment the fight between heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko and paper titleholder David Haye was first contemplated in 2008 -- before Haye scraped by the statuesque Nikolai Valuev to win a trinket in 2009 -- I thought Klitschko would beat him if they ever met.

Nothing has come close to changing my mind.

While Haye spent time ducking Klitschko and his brother, Vitali Klitschko, backing out of fights with both of them, Wladimir continued to mop the floor with his opponents.

He has won titles twice and, during his present reign, made nine defenses. He hasn't been remotely challenged in any of them -- scoring eight knockouts and shutting out Sultan Ibragimov to unify belts -- all while fighting the best opponents of an admittedly weak era.

He has fought all sorts of opponents: big southpaws (Tony Thompson), fast guys (Eddie Chambers), punchers (Samuel Peter) and small guys with great defense (Chris Byrd). Same result, fight in and fight out.

In fact, since getting off the floor three times against a prime Peter in a 2005 title eliminator, Klitschko has been like a machine. That win over Peter also showed something else -- that Klitschko, previously a mental mess when times got tough, had a newfound inner strength and resolve, thanks in large part to the masterful rebuilding job of Emanuel Steward, an all-time great trainer and maybe an even better psychologist.

Klitschko's previous mental and stamina issues are a thing of the past. There has been no evidence of them since his 2004 upset loss to Lamon Brewster (which was brutally avenged).

Physically, Klitschko has incredible advantages over Haye. He's a legitimate 6-foot-6 and generally weighs about 245 pounds, giving him 3 inches and about 30 pounds of muscle on Haye.

Haye has solid power with 23 knockouts in his 25 wins, but most were at cruiserweight. Klitschko is a bona fide heavyweight puncher with 49 knockouts in 55 wins. Haye's résumé at heavyweight, especially when compared to Klitschko's, is incredibly weak.

Since Haye moved to heavyweight in late 2008, he has fought only four times. He was hurt by journeyman Monte Barrett before stopping him in five rounds; Haye was touch and go with Valuev in a majority decision that I thought Valuev won; Haye stopped John Ruiz, who then retired, with an assortment of illegal punches behind the head that the referee ignored; and Haye stopped wildly undeserving challenger Audley Harrison in the third round of one of the worst heavyweight title bouts ever.

Simply, Haye talked his way into the fight with Klitschko, so I'll give him credit for that. But in the ring, it's a different story. Klitschko is bigger and stronger, and he has better defense, way more experience, a better corner (Adam Booth is a good trainer, but he's no Steward), a better jab, a better right hand and the better of two questionable chins. And Klitschko will also be fighting in the friendly confines of Germany.

It all adds up to title defense No. 10 and knockout No. 50 for the big fella.